Essex Ford Marks 6 Years of Billericay Lions' Santa Sleigh

In December 2015, Essex Ford marked 6 years of providing specially signwritten vehicles to power Billericay Lions' Santa Sleigh on its tour around Billericay to raise funds for charities, including the parade along the High Street for the Christmas Market on Sunday 6th.

For
12 days, Santa Sleigh – powered by Essex Ford – followed the routes below to bring some special Christmas magic to the children of
Essex in return for donations which will benefit local charities, with
some also going to Lions Clubs International charitable causes.

After all the collecting and counting up, Billericay Lions and the many generous locals managed to raise the grand sum of £8,112.57!

Thank you from everyone involved!

To encourage people to brave the elements and support Santa's fundraising efforts, Essex Ford's local dealership offered them the chance to enter a prize draw to WIN A BOTTLE OF CHAMPAGNE if they took a photo of the Billericay Lions Santa and our gift-wrapped Ford Kuga to post on Twitter with the hashtag #EssexSanta.*

And the winner was... Claire Hayhow!

Congratulations to Claire who received her bottle of bubbly from our very own Mark Packer at Essex Ford in Billericay.

Over the past 6 years, Essex Ford has really enjoyed designing these special vehicles to help raise over £40,000 for local charities and organisations, such as Brighter Opportunities through Supported Play, Basildon Borough Citizens Advice Bureau, Billericay Youth Town Council's Urban Games, Lukes Counselling Service for Children and Young People, the Neighbourhood Watch scheme, and Hamelin House. Some funds have also gone to young people needing worthwhile sponsorship and those with disabilities.

International charities have included Chernobyl Children's Project, WaterAid, the Lions International Disabled Swimming Gala, and Lions Sightsavers.

In our first year supporting Billericay Lions, in 2010, our Marketing Director Matt Brown, Group Marketing Manager Lynn Walster and Sales Manager Andrew Lodge did the honours, handing over a new Volvo V70 (complete with antlers and red nose) outside our dealership.

In 2011, Lynn Walster (now our Group Best Practice Manager) had the pleasure of handing over another Volvo V70 outside our showroom on Western Road.

Our jolly brand-new Volvo XC70, whose keys were handed over by our Site Manager Mark Packer and Marketing Director Matt Brown, helped lead the Lions to the grand sum of £7,466 in 2012.

In 2013, the Santa Sleigh powered by our Ford Kuga got a typically warm Essex welcome from the public and excited kids. Despite some poor weather, the goodwill and generosity of local people raised a terrific total of £7,442.

After braving the elements to bring peace and goodwill to Billericay residents, the Christmas 2014 Billericay Lions Santa Sleigh was pulled along by another beautifully-designed Ford Kuga and managed to raise £7,921.

* Tweet A Photo Of #EssexSanta – Terms & Conditions

The Essex Ford 'Tweet A Photo Of #EssexSanta' prize draw is subject to the following conditions.

The prize ('Prize') consists of one bottle of champagne.

The prize is open to UK residents only, who are 18 years or over.

Employees of
Essex Auto Group/Essex Ford, its dealers, printers and agencies (including their
families) are not eligible to take part in the competition.

To enter the competition entrants must take a photo featuring the Billericay Lions Santa (and only this Santa – we accept no substitutes – not even the real one) and our gift-wrapped Ford Kuga, then post it on Twitter with the hashtag #EssexSanta.

No third party or bulk entries.

Competition runs from Saturday 12th to Wednesday 23rd December 2015.

The winner will be selected at random after the closing date.

The winner will be notified via Twitter by the end of December.

The winner will
have 1 week to establish contact with Essex Auto Group/Essex Ford via Twitter
before the winner's prize is withdrawn and redistributed.

The winner may be required to take part in publicity (including photographs). The
winner's name may be disclosed in advertising and marketing material,
including posts on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.

By entering you
are allowing Essex Auto Group/Essex Ford to use your name on their Facebook page
and Twitter timeline to announce the winner.

Essex Auto Group/Essex Ford will not be responsible for any lost or incomplete entries.

Essex Auto Group/Essex Ford's decision is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into.

Entry implies acceptance of these terms and conditions.

The prize must be accepted as offered. No cash alternative to the prize will be offered
and the prize is not transferable. The promoter reserves the right to
substitute a prize of equal or greater value should circumstances make
this necessary.

In the event that any winner is unable to accept the prize for any reason they must
notify Essex Auto Group/Essex Ford immediately. In this circumstance, Essex Auto
Group/Essex Ford reserves the right to offer the prize to another entrant.

Essex Auto Group/Essex Ford
shall not be held responsible for any cancellation of any event or
session, which may be due to circumstance outside their control,
including – but not limited to – adverse weather conditions. There will
be no alternative offer in respect of any such cancellation.

Essex Auto Group/Essex Ford
can not guarantee that it will be able to deliver the prize before
either Christmas Day or New Year's Eve. But we will try.

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Financial Disclosure

Allen Ford (UK) Limited T/A Essex Auto Group is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (our registration number is 710890) and which is permitted to advise on and arrange consumer credit contracts. We work with a number of carefully selected credit providers who may be able to offer you finance for your purchase. We are only able to offer finance products from these providers. You can validate this information on the Financial Services' Register by visiting the FCA’s website: www.fca.org.uk/register/ or by contacting the FCA by phone on: 0800 111 6768.